


stay

by wolfwithpanthereyes



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Avengers Movie Night, Domestic Avengers, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen or Pre-Slash, M/M, Not Captain America: Civil War (Movie) Compliant, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-23
Updated: 2019-09-23
Packaged: 2020-10-26 12:16:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20742065
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolfwithpanthereyes/pseuds/wolfwithpanthereyes
Summary: Tony couldn’t sleep. Nothing new there.(or, a snapshot from an AU where the Civil War fight ended differently and Bucky goes to live with the Avengers, because I’m a sucker for domestic Avengers)





	stay

**Author's Note:**

  * For [MagicKaitō1412 (naosuki)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/naosuki/gifts).

Tony couldn’t sleep. Nothing new there.

It was easier not to even try. Head to the kitchen, get a mug of coffee, head to the lab, tinker back and forth, head back to the kitchen, rinse and repeat with the coffee machine until there was enough caffeine in his system to blame insomnia on.

His hand shakes as he pours his third coffee within the same amount of hours. “Caffeine jitters,” he announces to the deserted room, in the hopes it will persuade his quickfire brain this is indeed the cause. The coffee laps at the rim of his mug as he cradles it in his hands.

Footsteps. Tony tenses automatically, and the stiffness doesn’t abate when Barnes enters the kitchen a moment later.

Barnes freezes in the doorway as their eyes meet, and Tony knows their minds are currently running along similar wavelengths.

Grainy video footage. Cold stone, hard and unforgiving. Entire body aching and uncontrollable rage.

Tony grits his teeth and tears his gaze away quickly. “Coffee?”

Barnes’ fist uncurls. “No.” He moves past Tony, reaching for the cupboard where Steve and Thor (and now Barnes too, apparently) stash their energy bars. 

“’s good stuff. Made it myself,” Tony says before he can bit his tongue.

“I’m good.” Barnes tugs a bar out and brings it to his mouth, using his teeth to tear at the wrapper. Tony has promised him a new arm, but in the meantime Barnes has become remarkably agile at performing tasks with only one hand.

Tony takes a gulp of his coffee and Barnes makes for the door.

“Wait,” Tony says before he can stop himself.

Barnes pauses. “What?”

Tony has no plans for what to say next. Not that it has ever stopped him before. He turns the mug in his hands, and what comes out next is, “Stay?”

There’s a slight tilt of Barnes’ head to the side, and then he continues walking.

“Please, don’t leave,” Tony says, quick enough that the words blend together into a jumbled _pleasedontleave_.

This time when Barnes stops, he turns to face Tony again.

“Wanna watch something with me? I know the others are catching you up on your film history lessons and all, but I bet there’s still a lot of classics you haven’t seen.” Tony is babbling, he knows it, and yet he can’t stop. All he can think about is the cold empty lab awaiting him if he doesn’t take a stab at some kind of human connection - even if Barnes is the last person he would want to reach out to.

Barnes must sense the thinly-veiled desperation, because he doesn’t immediately leave like any normal person in his position should.

“Or you can choose something yourself, if you want, I don’t really care-”

“_His Girl Friday_,” Barnes interrupts.

Tony blinks. “Come again?”

Barnes shrugs, and suddenly he looks incredibly human, opposed to the super-soldier Tony witnessed in that video, the one who-

Tony grips his mug tighter and refuses to follow that thought to its inevitable conclusion. He swore he wouldn’t hurt Barnes again and he has been clinging to that promise like a lifeline since the day Barnes arrived at the tower.

“I haven’t seen it since it came out,” Barnes is saying. “I liked - can’t remember her name, but I liked the girl Friday. And yeah, Steve’s gotten a few of the old ones for us to reminisce over when I can, but other than that it’s mostly been cartoon marathons.”

“Oh,” Tony says. Barnes has a wistful expression on his face, similar to the one Tony sometimes glimpses on Steve when Cap gets all nostalgic about the Old Days. It usually makes Tony want to tease Steve, but he wouldn’t mind if Barnes kept wearing this one. “Yeah, I can grab that one for you. Lounge?”

They end up sitting on opposite ends of the couch while the film plays, but it’s a start.


End file.
